


For Those Who Dare To Hope

by darkrisinglight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Badass Rey, Ben Solo is a Mess, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fraternities & Sororities, Past Abuse, Time Skips, always a HEA, ben and rey meet as kids, here's looking at you jjerio, i was in greek life so it'll be realistic i promise, not first time for either because i don't think i can write virgin sex, tags will be updated once i figure out what i'm doing, they reunite at college
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkrisinglight/pseuds/darkrisinglight
Summary: CC @Reylo_Prompts: "Rey and Ben are best friends all throughout elementary school. They even share their first kiss together on a dare. But then Ben moves away and they lose touch. Years later, they're reunited in college and discover just how much things both change and stay the same."When Rey goes to a party with her friends, she's expecting a few things. She's expecting cheap beer and even cheaper liquor. She's expecting loud music, rich white boys, and dancing on tables. She's expecting to finally let off some steam.What she isn't expecting is to see him again.
Relationships: Kaydel Ko Connix/Jannah, Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 14
Kudos: 33





	For Those Who Dare To Hope

**Author's Note:**

> HIIII WOWOWOW this has been a long time coming. First of all, I am not a writer. However, I saw this prompt and I just instantly fell in love. Please please please, let me know what you think of this! I don't have an update schedule as of now, but that may change in the future. Thank you so much to the ladies at The Writing Den for inspiring me to publish this and offering advice when I need it. HUGE shoutout to my beta for this chapter, Morrigan! YOU ARE AMAZING!

_2012_

Rey stood outside the tall brown building, fidgeting nervously with the straps of her backpack. The building was massive— bigger than any of her other schools—bigger than really _any_ building she’d been in. The red bricks formed a massive arch over the front doors, and the stone steps leading up to the entrance were littered with smiling kids, polished parents and enthusiastic teachers. 

Rey looked down at her thrifted shoes and noticed her socks had a small hole by the right ankle. It was her first day of fourth grade and she felt the same pang of worry in her stomach that she always felt on the first day at a new school. Her guardian, Maz, looked down at her and smiled softly. 

“Now girl, there’s nothing to worry about. Coruscant Elementary is a good school, and I’ve already talked to Miss Holdo, your teacher. She knows it's your first day and she’ll help you get all settled in” the small woman said as she patted Rey’s shoulder affectionately. 

Rey knew Maz was right, but she was always wary of people she didn’t know. It’s how she’d survived on the streets for a year by herself after her parents left her on a park bench with nothing more than a blanket when she was five years old. She’d made it a habit of avoiding the wary eyes of adults who did double takes when they saw the frail, dirty girl walking by herself. She learned to hide in the allies behind restaurants and bakeries during certain parts of the day because that was when they would throw out their leftovers. She slept wherever she could find a quiet place and made sure to never stay in one place too long in case an adult realized she didn’t have a parent coming back to get her. Eventually, child services caught up to her, and she’d been bounced around the foster system for a few years until she was taken in by Maz Kanata. 

Maz was so full of sass that the small woman was able to intimidate anyone who crossed her and Rey had known instantly they were going to get along. 

Rey looked up at Maz and forced a tight smile. 

“Alright, go on. You don’t want to be late. You remember where your classroom is right?” Rey nodded. “Good. I’ll be here at three o’clock sharp, then you and I will go get ice cream to celebrate your first day. How does that sound?” 

Rey couldn’t help but beam at the prospect of ice cream and she nodded enthusiastically as Maz pulled her in for a hug. Rey wrapped her arms around the small woman and felt a tightness start to rise in her throat. 

_What if she didn’t fit in? What if everyone thought she was weird?_

“Don’t be afraid, my brave girl. Never be afraid of you who are.” 

That was another thing Rey liked about Maz. She seemed to be able to read her mind sometimes. 

Pulling back, Rey took a deep breath, and with one last glance and a small wave, she forced herself to turn and walk towards the looming brown building in front of her. 

\-----------

Her classroom was at the very end of the main hall. She walked fast and tried to avoid eye contact with the unfamiliar teachers and kids, but she couldn’t help and look around the hallway. 

Coruscant Elementary was nothing like her old schools in Jakku. Those schools were run down and seemed to get less public funding every year; the teachers showed up to school hungover and it seemed like every other day a student was suspended for fighting. 

Coruscant Elementary was...glowing. That was the only word Rey could think of to describe the space in front of her. The marble floors were shining and newly polished, the lockers freshly painted. The students were dressed in beautiful clothes and wore bright smiles as they laughed and hugged each other. Rey tried to push down her nerves and walked a little faster until she saw room 187 on the left. 

The classroom looked like a rainbow threw up all over it. 

The chairs were bright yellow, the five tables spread throughout the room had multicolored name signs on them. Colorful art and inspirational posters covered the walls from floor to ceiling. A bright blue rug sat in the corner of the room and a massive pile of pink, red and yellow pillows leaned against the wall next to it. 

Rey didn’t even realize she was gaping until a tall woman with light purple hair approached her. 

“Hello sweetie, you must be Rey. I’m Miss Holdo. I’m so happy you’re joining our class this year!” The woman smiled kindly and bent down so she was face to face with Rey. 

“I know you might be nervous, but I put you at a table with some very nice friends. I told the four of them that you were coming, and they can’t wait to meet you! Would you like to go say hello?” 

Rey smiled as the woman held out a hand for her to take and she let herself be led to the back of the classroom to a table where three of her classmates were already seated. 

“Rey, this is Poe, Finn, and Rose. They’re going to be your table buddies this year. And another student will sit here too, it just looks like he isn’t here yet. Now, kids, I want you to be extra kind to our new friend, Rey, and make sure she feels included, okay?” The trio nodded. “Good. Rey, you can go ahead and take a seat and class will start in a few minutes.” 

Rey put her backpack down beside one of the open seats and slid into it carefully, nervous to look up at her new classmates. When her eyes finally glanced upwards, the small Asian girl in front of her beamed. 

“Hi Rey! I’m Rose! I’m so excited that you’re sitting with us this year, I thought for a second I was going to be the only girl at the table and that would’ve been terrible!” 

The two boys next to Rey looked up from their paper football game. The boy with dark curly hair scrunched his nose. 

“Rosie, stop being so dramatic.” Rose huffed at the nickname while the boy turned his attention to Rey. “I’m Poe, Poe Dameron. Do you want a turn?” Poe asked as he gestured to the paper football. 

“Oh...I, uhh...don’t really—” 

Rey let out a shaky breath as she was cut off by a boy plopping down into the empty seat next to her. 

“Hey, Solo! How was your summer?” Poe asked as the new boy pulled out some pencils and tried to push his long black hair out of his face. 

“It was fine, went and saw—Who are you?” the boy asked abruptly as he noticed Rey’s presence. The other boy at the table, the one that had to be Finn, looked up from his folder. 

“Hey, hey! Don’t be rude, Solo. This is Rey. She’s new. She’s gonna be at our table this year” 

Rey looked up and carefully observed the boy next to her. He was tall for their age and gangly. His ears were bigger than most, and they poked out a little from behind his hair. His eyes, a light brown color, fell upon Rey’s face. He seemed to pause for a second as he took her in, then his face split into a massive grin. 

“Hi, Rey. I’m Ben. Rey’s a cool name. Why’d your parents name you that?” 

Before she could answer, Miss Holdo called everyone's attention to the front of the room and started class. After introducing Rey to the rest of the children—which of course, made her blush uncontrollably—they all took out their Math workbooks to start the first lesson. 

Rey was _not_ good at math. At all. Her brain just seemed to shut off when she saw a bunch of numbers. No matter how much she tried, she never seemed to _quite_ get it. 

Eventually, Miss Holdo gave everyone quiet time to work on the first five problems in their books, and Rey tried her best to keep the problems straight in her head. She’d made it to number three before she got really stuck, and she unintentionally let out a small huff in frustration and furrowed her brows. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small scrap of paper being pushed towards her. Confused, she glanced up and noticed Ben was trying to slyly slide a note to her, all the while keeping his eyes on his own workbook. Mimicking his actions, Rey reached over to grasp the paper and waited until it was right in front of her to glance at it. 

_The answer is 37._

She momentarily furrowed her brows further, until she understood what his note meant. He was giving her the answer. She hesitated briefly before jotting down a reply, and deftly passing the note back over to him. He glanced down to read it, then looked up and shot her a grin. 

_They named me Rey after the sun. Ya know, “Rey” of sunshine?_

Rey couldn’t help but shyly smile back as they both returned to their work, and a warm feeling grew in her stomach. She knew better than to hope, but a small voice in her head couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the year that she finally found out what it was like to have a friend. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on twitter!! @darkrisinglight 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought!


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